by Tim
A while ago, Paul Cole and I collaborated to document what we could find about social media activity in Derby. We did this ‘virtually’ using an online mind mapping tool called Mind Meister. Robin Good has published a useful guide to social media tools using Mind Meister, which you can view by using the following link: www.mindmeister.com/12213323.
What became apparent to us while compiling this information is the extent to which businesses, organisations and – perhaps more importantly – the public in the area are using social media. The largest area of activity is on Facebook where we found numerous groups that have been set up on issue-based subjects.
Few businesses and public sector organisations in the city have pages on Facebook, but there are a growing number using Twitter. However, few of these are actively engaging with customers. One notable exception to this, based on my own experience, is Derby Quad (@derbyquad) whose customer service via the Twitter service has been excellent.
[Edit: I've now created a separate page for all of the social media links, which you can visit by clicking on the 'Links' page from the navigation menu or by using the following link: http://socialmediacafe.org.uk/links/]
Let us know if you know of other local organisations using Twitter and Facebook (or other services) and we’ll add them to the list.
I’ve been playing with the idea and various possible set-ups for a while now (not very JFDI but maybe as long as a year). I’ve really been spurred into action though by the inspiration I drew at LocalGovCamp.
